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Staerk
The Staerk are a war-like race from an unknown planet. They have now set up their homes in Ziarna, on Piasek, after driving the native Spytkalat to near extinction. Biology Appearance Size On two legs, the Staerk can stand fourteen metres tall at the chest. When on all fours, they can reach a height of seven metres tall and ten metres long. They weigh about six tonnes. Head The head of a Staerk is roughly humanoid. The jaw is filled with sharp teeth, and two large tusks curve forwards from either side of the mouth. All of these are used as weapons in battle or when hunting. The eyes and nose are small, yet Staerks have surprisingly good eyesight. Their sense of smell, however, is primitive. Two long ears extend from behind the eyes, and these give the Staerk excellent hearing. Behind the ears, some white hair grows on the head. This hair continues down the back. Body and Limbs A Staerk has an enormous body, all of which is well-muscled. White fur has grown along the back, though this has no known purpose. It was possibly a form of insulation back on their planet. Now living in a desert, perhaps most of the fur has stopped growing. Staerks are massively strong, and they can throw a Fangarm with ease. The hands are four-fingered, each one tipped with a claw. The legs appear to have two knees, one bending the wrong way, but this is actually the ankle. The feet are furred, and tipped with two toes, each one clawed. Tail Staerks have extremely small tails, like humans. They are not visible from the outside. Muscle and Bone Structure Muscle Structure The muscles of a Staerk are incredibly strong, especially in the chest and limbs. As stated above, a Staerk could easily throw a Fangarm over ten metres. The jaw muscles are also strong, allowing them to bite down with incredible force. Bone Structure The bones of a Staerk are thick and solid, meaning they weigh a lot. In addition, the skull is extra thick to absorb impacts. Diet Staerks are carnivorous. They use their brute strength to kill animals, often by throwing them onto rocks. Behaviour Staerks are aggressive towards non-Staerks. When encountering their own kind, they do not fight, unless a youngster is threatened. Normally, they will ignore each other, but sometimes they may communicate, and assist each other in tasks such as hunting. Life Cycle Staerks give birth to live young. They can see as soon as they are born, and can usually walk after a few minutes. After about five years, the young is abandoned. It normally takes another five years for them to reach full size, often longer. They can mate from about a year after that, and one male might mate with several females, each time leaving them to look after the newborn, and normally not even waiting for it to be born. Babies are born about a year after mating. The average lifetime for a Staerk is about 60 years. History Staerks come from an unknown planet. Hundreds of years ago, a spaceship from an unknown civilisation crashed onto their homeworld. Though stupid, the Staerks were curious. It was an enormous ship, capable of holding tens of thousands, and many went onboard. It was obvious that the ship was made from a mega-hard substance, as it had remained intact even after the crash. One door had hung open. The ship was boarded practically to its limit, and then, automatically, the doors closed. The Staerks started to panic, and one attacked a control panel, causing the engines to start. The ship filled with panicking Staerks flew through space, until eventually they calmed down, seeing they were in no danger. After flying for hundreds of years – at least two generations of Staerks – the ship was pulled off-course by a planet’s gravity. The planet turned out to be Piasek. The spaceship then crashed on the northern tip of Ziarna, narrowly missing the sea. The doors opened, and the Staerks poured out into the new environment. At first, they were ill-adapted to survive in the desert conditions, but eventually they adapted, and turned to their main opposition – the Spytkalat. The Staerks weighed almost seven times as much as the Spytkalat, and were larger lengthwise and heightwise as well. The two species were at war for decades, before the Spytkalats were forced to retreat. Now, they are on the brink of extinction. Now, Staerks are the dominant creatures on Ziarna, unmatched in size and strength by any of the native species. Habitat The fact that the Staerks first struggled to cope with the conditions on Ziarna seems to show that the Staerk homeplanet was colder. This may also explain the fur running down the back. They have now, however, adapted to live on Ziarna. In Fiction *﻿Story: Survival Category:Animals Category:Desert Animals Category:Non-sapient creatures Category:Carnivores Category:Piasek Category:Ziarna Inhabitants Category:Apex Predators Category:Semi-sapient species